Mayor Lim to build statue for Dolphy

Coinciding with the 8th death anniversary of FPJ “Da King” on Dec. 14 last year, Manila Mayor Fred Lim unveiled the statue of FPJ along Roxas Boulevard, Manila, with FPJ’s widow Susan Roces and daughter, Senatoriable Grace Poe-Llamanzares, in attendance.

When movie writers visited the set of Mayor Lim’s biopic, The Turning Cradle: The Untold Story of Alfredo Lim, which is directed by Cesar Montano who also stars in it (the third to do so, after former Sen. Ramon Revilla, Eddie Garcia and Rudy Fernandez), the re-electionist mayor (with Councilor Lou Veloso as running mate) revealed that he’s also building the same statue for Dolphy who, like FPJ, was originally a Manileño.

“Dolphy deserves the honor because of his contribution to Philippine Cinema,” Mayor Lim, who considers the late icons as friends, was quoted as saying.

Engraved on the FPJ statue are these words: Tunay na Pangulo sa Puso ng Nakakaraming Pilipino.

The Fred Lim biopic, set for release hopefully on Feb. 27 before the COMELEC-approved limited campaign period that starts early March, is based on his biography written by Nick Joaquin.

Jojo Gabinete wondered in his Abante column that, since Mayor Fred has built statues of other historical figures (like Gen. Douglas MacArthur at the foot of MacArthur Bridge), would he include former Philippine presidents on the list?

“Ipagawa rin kaya ni Mayor Lim ng rebulto si (Former Pres. Joseph) Erap (Estrada)?” asked Jojo. “Erap is running against Mayor Lim in this May’s elections.”

Yeah, would Mayor Fred?

Incidentally, Funfare contacted Dolphy’s widow Zsa Zsa Padilla for her reaction. She texted back, “I heard nga sa news, but we haven’t received a letter from Mayor Lim’s office.”

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